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- The FDA released data on Pfizer’s new coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday.
- The data suggests that the company’s two-shot course works very well to prevent COVID-19 infections.
- A table in the summary suggests that protection against infection begins 14 days after a person’s first injection, and that protection improves much after the second dose is given.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released safety and efficacy data on Pfizer’s new coronavirus vaccine to the public on Tuesday, and it looks good.
In a 53-page informational document posted on its website, FDA data showed that Pfizer’s mRNA vaccination course worked well in more than 40,000 people of various ages, races, and genders who tested it in six different countries around of the world.
A graph in the informational materials documents how many people during the study contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Comparing those who received the Pfizer treatment with those in the control group shows how well the new 2-shot vaccine cycle can work to prevent infection.
The red line in the graph represents how many of the roughly 21,000 participants in the control group, those who (unknowingly) received a sham injection (placebo), became ill. The blue line shows the COVID-19 infection rates in the other half of the study, among the roughly 21,000 people who received the actual Pfizer vaccine.
The chart suggests that people who received the actual Pfizer vaccine began to gain protection against infection as early as 14 days after their first injection. Then 21 days later, they got their second (and last) chance. After that, they were well protected from infection for at least two more months.
Vaccine protection possibly lasts much longer than that, it’s too early to know for sure.
Vaccine protection is greatly improved with a second injection
It takes some time for the injections to take effect in the body, providing strong and complete protection against the virus. Because of this, after the first Pfizer injection was given, nearly 90 people who received the vaccine became ill with COVID-19 before receiving their second injection.
But starting a week after the second injection was given, the vaccine became much more effective at preventing infection.
Only 8 people received COVID-19 after receiving both doses of the Pfizer vaccine and waiting a full week for the vaccine to take effect (approximately 28 days from the start of the trial). Only one person out of the 8 suffered a severe case of the disease; they were not hospitalized.
Meanwhile, in the unprotected control group, cases continued to increase. After day 28, they recorded 163 more infections, with three severe cases, including two hospital admissions (one in the ICU).
The FDA is scheduled to hold an advisory committee meeting on Thursday to decide whether the agency will approve, or reject, what would be the first licensed emergency U.S. vaccine for COVID-19. Pfizer’s vaccine has already been approved for use in the UK and Bahrain.
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